Recuperator tile structure



Sept. 7, 1937.

W. A. MORTON ET AL RECUPERATOR TILE STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 7. 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR AITRNEY Sept. 7, 1937.4 w A MQRTQN AL 2,092,402

RECUPERATOR TILE STRUCTURE Filed Aug. 7, 1934 s sheets-sheet 2 A TTORNEY Sept. 7, 1937. w. A. MoRToN Er AL RECUPERATOR TILE STRUCTURE 3 Shets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. '7. 1954 Patented Sept. 7, w3?

NT OFFICE ancurnana'oa STRUCTURE William A. Morton, Mount Lebanon, and Howard F. Spencer, vrPittsburgh, Pa.. asslgnors to Amco. Incorporated, Pittsburgh',k Pa., a corporation oi' Pennsylvania Application Aurait 7, im. serial Nn. 'massa clams (ci. zes-zo) f' inversin relates when? and useful im-'- provements in recuperator structures moreparticularly recuperator tile structures'whichcon-l A stitutethe4 preheated Vair and.V aste gas lzbassiage,v

of.y toV` provide and it is among the oblectsf a recuperator tile of a sliape1- mum exchange 'of heat betwe passing on one side or thetil passing on the opposite side shape, produce stream-line ."cfatfectf to air iiow, whereby turbulence on the tile,"faceslsfsubstantially eliminated, and which-1 lshall f further be adapted to the use ot tile oismaller cross-sectional area permitting .lighterwall construction to reduce the temperature diile'rential on the instress that causesbreakage.V

yner and outer `walls of the tile. thereby reducing lsam a further obj 'ct of ,tiiihvenuon is they provision of a tile form which maybe arranged within different shaped recuperator walls of equal areas so that the same number of` tile may be employed.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawings constituting a part hereof in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a recuperator structure embodying -the principles of this invention; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 horizontal cross-sectional views of the tile structure showing different arrangements of the flue tile;

Fig. 5 a diagrammatic view illustrating the ow of air around and between the tile;

Fig. 6 a -view in perspective of a flange or spacer tile;

Fig. 7 a view in perspective of a closure tile;

Fig. 8 a cross-sectional view partially in elevation of a detailed portion of the iiue tile assembly: v

Fig. 9 a view in perspective of a. flue tile;

Fig. 10 a view in perspective of an end tile; and

Fig. 11 a view in perspective of a corner tile.

With reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the structure therein illustrated comprises a closure which is generally of a rectangular shape andv n to the recuperator structure, the numeral 9 a co1- he 'vaist-egrises,' lecting chamber at the bottom of the recuperator and the `itil'v the.tilewall'. jf It is a further object of .thegzfinventon 'to provide frecuperator tile which shall,.because of ,its

f'passage III with a passage Il leading to a stack, fthewaste gas arrows.

Angair inlet passage I2 is provided adjacent single arrows to the preheat air outlets 5 and 6 at the top of the tile structure. Outlets 5 and 6 communicate with preheat air passage 1 leading tothe combustion chamber or a furnace. The numeral B designates a waste gas inlet passage tile structure which is in communication through ow being designated by double the bottom row of tile and a blower I 3 may be employed to supply a regulated volume of air to be preheated. 15

`While the construction shown in Fig. 1 may be illustrative of a recuperator employing either square, round or other shaped tiles as is disclosed in my Patent #1,587,171, I have discovered that a polygonal shaped tile as shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings possesses greater advantages and is adapted for arrangement in the manner shown in Figs. 2 to 4 inclusive of the drawings. In Fig. 9 an octagonal shape ilue tile is designated by the reference numeral I4 and is necked at I5 at one end to cooperate with a recess I6 of a flange or spacer tile I1, the latter being provided with shoulders I8 to seat the flanges I9 of a closure or baille tile 20.

The manner of assembling the flue tile is illustrated in Fig. 8 in which the spacer tile I1 is shown at the respective ends of the flue tile I 4 with the closure and baille tile 20 inserted at the point of juncture oi' the spacer tile. 'I'he ends of the ilue tile Il are sealed oil.' with cement designated by the numeral 2|.

With reference' to Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be apparent that the ue and the flange tile I4 and I1 respectively are symmetrical, arranged with the closure me zo, sealing off the openings 40 between the flange tile. The edge tile 22, Fig. 9, is placed between adjacent ianges I 1 as shown in Fig. 2, and corner tile 23 is placed in the corners as shown in Fig. 2, the edge and corner tile being provided with shoulders 24 for seating on the ange tile I'I-as shown in the upper right hand corner of Fig. 2. It is to be noted that the polygonal shaped ilue tile is arranged with their juxtaposed surfaces in parallelism.

Fig. 3.illustrates another arrangement of the line tile, and Fig. 4 still another arrangement, the arrangement of Fig. 3 being for a rectangular recuperator housing and that of Fig. 4 for a square housing, Fig. 3 diiering i'romI Fig. 2 in 55 that the recuperator housing is more narrow than that of Fig. 2.

By crowding the flange tile I'I into the narrower space in the manner shown in Fig. 3, the horizontal centers are shorter than in either construction shown in Figs. 2 or 4, and in Fig. 4 the vertical centers are shortened and the horizontal centers widened. In either case, the closure, edge and corner tile will have to be correspondingly changed to close the different shaped openings, this being commercially feasible by maintaining stock of such different types.

The merit of an octagonal form of tile as herein disclosed is that the air flowing past the outer faces of the tile flows in a. stream-line to provide maximum contact or heat exchange between the waste gases passing through the flue tile and the air passing through the space between the outer walls of the tile. This is best illustrated by the diagrammatic showing in Fig. 5 wherein the arrows designate the air flow which divides to flow around the tile, then reunites between adjacent tile and is again divided, etc.

Where square tile is employed, the air flowing between adjacent tile contacts the sides of the tile only and not the transverse faces whereby a turbulence is created that lowers the heat exchange eiiiciency of the tile.

If round tile is employed, the same heat exchange capacity or wall area would bring the tile too close together thereby setting up resistance to the flow of air between adjacent tile so that the hexagonal form obviously is the most efficient to produce maximum surface contact of the air with the tile with a minimum of resistance of ow.

Because of the greater efficiency of the octagonal form of tile, smaller area tile may be employed which permits of thinner wall construction of the flue tile which in turn increases the conductivity of the Wall and lowers the temperature differential between the inner and outer tile wall surfaces. Consequently, less breakage will occur due to this temperature differential as the thinner Wall tile will be subjected to less stress than a square tile of a heavier wall section.

Another advantage of the use of octagonal tile shape is that more space is provided exteriorly of the tile structure between adjacent flue tile, thus facilitating the turning of the air flow from the bottom passages upwardly through adjacent horizontal passages so that the communicating passages between adjacent vertically disposed horizontal air flow passages can be provided nearer the ends of the air flow passages to produce a longer path for air flow.

In its operation, a recuperator tile structure as shown in Fig. l functions to effect an exchange of heat between waste gases passing from the inlet 8 downwardly to the vertical passages 3 of the flue tile I4 to the collector chamber 9 at the bottom, thence through the passage III to the stack II as shown by double arrows, and air is drawn in or forced in through passage I2 following the horizontal and vertical paths as indicated by the single arrows, becoming heated by the hot waste flue tile I4, and passing into the preheated air passage 1 leading to a combustion chamber.

From the foregoing it is evident that the octagonal form of recuperator tile has definite advantages over square or round tile, both as to the structural arrangement of the tile within recuperator walls of different cross-sectional form and thermally by lowering the resistance to air ow and increasing the wiping action or contact of the air with the outer walls of the flue tile.

Although one embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and disclosed, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the details of construction without departing from the principles herein set forth.

We claim:

1. In a recuperator structure for furnaces, side, top and bottom walls constituting a closed chamber, a tile structure within said chamber consisting of refractory tile units joined at their ends by ange tile to constitute flues, and closure and baffle tile disposed between said flange tile to provide transverse flues, said flue tile units being of polygonal cross-section and mounted with their juxtaposed wall surfaces in parallelism.

2. In a recuperator structure for furnaces, side, top and bottom walls constituting a closed chamber, a tile structure within said chamber consisting of refractory tile units disposed in vertical rows joined at their ends by flange tile for engaging the anges of adjacent rows of tile, and closure and baffle tile disposed between said flanged tile to provide transverse flues, said flue tile units being of polygonal cross-section and mounted with their juxtaposed wall surfaces in parallelism.

WILLIAM A. MORTON. HOWARD F. SPENCER. 

